How to Cultivate an Indoor Oasis, According to the Duo Behind a Beloved Plant Shop

Adam Besheer and Rebecca Bullene are the husband and wife founders of Greenery Unlimited, a biophilic design store and online plant nursery offering potted plant delivery to the New York City area. The duo is proud to offer a wide selection of plants, planters, tools, and accessories to their growing clientele. We spoke with Adam and Rebecca about the benefits of bringing nature indoors, and how to create beautiful, low-maintenance spaces back home.

On Crafting the Perfect Vessel

"We spent almost ten years working with virtually every planter on the market. What we realized was that almost every good looking planter wasn’t horticulturally sound, and almost every horticulturally sound vessel wasn’t good looking. We designed our patented self-watering system to bridge the gap between both worlds in order to make a vessel that pops on the shelf but makes killing your plants almost impossible. This collaboration between us and Light + Ladder is our latest offering in this line and something we’re beyond excited about."

"Sustainability is always in the forefront of our decision making process. The average shelf life of most of the large pots we’ve worked with is two to five years. Fiber, clay, and concrete planters are prone to cracking, and while the texture is nice to look at the reality is the material these pots are made out of doesn’t decay, so when they get thrown out they end up in a landfill for eternity. We doubled down on trying to make a ‘heritage quality’ pot, meaning the style is meant to be simple enough to not go out of vogue, and the material is made of marine-grade fiberglass to last a lifetime and beyond. Our pots come with an optional matching saucer, and are suited for indoor or outdoor use."

The One Neat Trick for Keeping Your Plants Thriving

"Here’s a trade secret: plants love light. Plants we consider ‘low light’ plants still need light to process nutrients, and low maintenance stalwarts like ZZs and snake plants are just better at dying slowly. Thankfully, LED technology has progressed leaps and bounds in the past decade, and high quality lights that are pleasant to be around are bountiful and cheap. Best of all, these bulbs fit into a standard light socket, so you can use virtually any fixture with them.

"Don’t get suckered in by expensive ‘plant lights’ as it’s generally just a marketing ploy. The thing you’re looking for is a high lumen output and high CRI, which is approximately how close the color of the light is to the sun. This is the single best thing you can do for your plant indoors if it’s not directly in a south facing window."

"Once you have a light, you need to plug it into a timer. The rough rule of thumb is your plant needs ten to twelve hours a day, and you definitely don’t want to be responsible for turning the light off and on yourself. A smart timer is an affordable product that won’t need to be reset if it accidentally gets unplugged. We use these everywhere."

"Overwatering is one of the most common reasons plants perish. For larger plants, and for plants potted in containers without drainage, this can be a difficult thing to assess. Our soil probe is made of anti-microbial brass that can take soil samples from the bottom of your planter and also aerate the soil in the process."

On the Care and Maintenance of Your Plant Children 

"Light is the energy a plant uses to process water and nutrients, but a plant still needs nutrients. This low-grade fertilizer is great because it doesn’t have a scent and is low in salt buildup. We use it about twice a month on our plants."

"Dust is going to accumulate on your plants’ leaves over time. Cleaning them can be a hassle, especially with more traditional spray bottles or spritzers which have a tendency to break easily. Our airless spray mister emits an aerosol-like spray with minimal effort, making it easy to reach the nooks and crannies of your plant."

Their Favorite Creature Comforts

"Cotton is undoubtedly the most comfortable fabric to sleep with. We love the quality and commitment to organic and fair trade agriculture of Coyuchi. This hand-stitched quilt is so comfortable in all seasons and the texture adds a great natural quality to our bedroom."

"Eating and drinking from beautiful ceramics is such a pleasure. We are longtime East Fork fans—especially the bowls. From cereal to  ice cream to soup, they’ve got something for everyone and every meal. We enjoy having beautiful objects in our home and appreciate that they are made from locally-sourced materials in Asheville, North Carolina."

"We split our time between Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and our small farm in the Hudson Valley. During the pandemic we discovered the magic of pickling our own home-grown organic veggies from the farm and we are obsessed! We eat our homemade pickles on just about everything these days. This kit makes it so easy to ferment all different kinds of veggies. The comfort of eating organic, home-grown food year round is second to none."

"As designers of both products and architectural spaces, a question we always ask ourselves is ‘How do we build something to last?’ The Le Creuset dutch oven is not only a design inspiration to us, but something we use almost every single day. You will need to buy exactly one of these pots in your life. Choose a color you’re going to like."

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